Slipknot fall out over complexity of their tracks

Slipknot's guitarists used to get in ''heated arguments'' about the complex nature of their riffs when they were recording 'All Hope is Gone'

Slipknot's guitarists used to get in "heated arguments" because their riffs were "so technical".

The heavy metal group's drummer, Joey Jordison, had to act as the peacemaker when the musicians and late bass player Paul Gray - who was found dead in a hotel room last year - disagreed about how their last album 'All Hope is Gone' should sound, because of the complex nature of their tracks.

He explained: "You know, that record - I mean, you listen to a song like 'All Hope is Gone,' nothing but double bass and thrash beats and just super heavy riffs, and then you've got 'Snuff,' you know.

"And then you've got 'Gematria,' like one of the best Slipknot songs we've ever played.

"And a funny story about that song is, like, the guitar players and Paul would be in rehearsals - we played 'All Hope is Gone' a couple of times, and that's one of my favourite Slipknot songs, and 'Gematria,' we're definitely gonna probably play those once we go out on a proper tour off the next record - but those guys would get in such heated arguments about how the riffs go, because they're so technical.

"So I'm like, 'All right, wait till the next time so you guys can all sit down and figure it out.' "

Joey explained the band start their songs with "a stem of drums and guitar" before finishing with material with keyboard player Craig Jones, who they refer to as "the serial killer" because he adds a musical element that makes their songs "more disturbing".

He added to Revolver magazine: "Craig - we call him the serial killer, he doesn't talk - he comes in last with layers of, you know, noise and whatever that we need to make the song even more disturbing. So that's how it works."